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www haha777 cafe Javon Small scored 31 points to rally West Virginia to an 86-78 overtime upset of No. 3 Gonzaga in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, Wednesday in Nassau, Bahamas. The Mountaineers (4-1) trailed by 10 points early in the second half and by five in the final minute. But over the final 19 seconds of regulation, Tucker DeVries scored five straight points to send the game to overtime. In the extra session, Small scored five points and West Virginia held Gonzaga to a single field goal, which came after the outcome was decided with 19 seconds left. Amani Hansberry added a career-high 19 points and eight rebounds for West Virginia, which advances to the semifinals Thursday against another surprise first-round winner, Louisville, which stunned No. 15 Indiana. Braden Huff scored 19 points and Khalif Battle added 16 points for Gonzaga (5-1) which settles for a consolation-round game Thursday against Indiana. Nolan Hickman tallied 13 points. Ryan Nembhard delivered seven points and 12 assists for the Bulldogs. Huff put Gonzaga in position to win when he made three hook shots in the final 2:34 of regulation as the Bulldogs turned a one-point deficit into a 69-66 lead. Two free throws by Nembhard expanded the lead to 71-66 with 25 seconds left. But DeVries followed with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and then made a mid-court steal and drew a foul with 5.9 seconds left. His two free throws sent it to overtime. The Mountaineers never trailed in overtime. Sencire Harris wrapped it up with a steal and a breakaway slam that put West Virginia up 84-76 with 26 seconds left. Battle, a transfer from Arkansas, scored eight points in a span of 90 seconds late in the first half as the Bulldogs took control on their way to a 39-31 lead at the break. Gonzaga earned its biggest lead early in the second half when Graham Ike scored inside with an assist from Nembhard to make it 43-33. But West Virginia responded with a 17-2 run, fueled by Small as he hit two 3-pointers and two layups. Hansberry drained a trey and DeVries grinded for a putback layup to give the Mountaineers a 50-45 lead with 12:26 left. DeVries finished the game with 16 points and four blocks. --Field Level Media

Even by the standards of a litigious business, Drake’s recent legal actions against Universal Music Group and other companies look like odd filings. On Nov. 25, Drake filed an action accusing UMG and Spotify of acting to “artificially inflate” the popularity of Kendrick Lamar ’s “Not Like Us”; the next day, he made a similar filing against UMG and iHeartRadio , alleging that UMG’s release of the song could also constitute defamation. The basic idea seems to be that “Not Like Us,” Lamar’s diss track against Drake, became so successful because it was rigged. “UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices,” Drake’s lawyers wrote in the first filing. “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.” The filings accuse UMG and its partners of acting in ways that are fraudulent, including using “bots” and payola, but little proof is provided — a “whistleblower,” an “inside source known to petitioner” and an assertion that Drake “learned of at least one UMG employee making payments to an independent radio promoter” who had agreed to pay stations. (The company has said in a statement to Billboard that “the suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue.”) These filings aren’t lawsuits, but rather legal attempts to get information that might provide the basis for them. And since Lamar’s success doesn’t really come at the expense of Drake’s — at least any more than any artist becomes popular at the expense of any other — it’s hard not to wonder if Drake is just upset that, with “Not Like Us,” Lamar seems to have won the long-running feud between them. That’s a long story — well-summarized here — but Drake and Lamar basically traded diss tracks for hip-hop fans until Lamar’s scathing “Not Like Us” topped the Billboard Hot 100. Drake is essentially claiming that UMG — for which both rappers record under different labels — cheated on Lamar’s behalf. It was rigged. Quick: What other famous person does this remind you of? Hints: When he wins, he revels in his success; when he loses, he blames it on unfairness and litigates. Yes, I’m going there: Drake has become Trumpian . Before Team Drizzy throws bottles of Virginia Black Whiskey by Drake, Drake is a skilled rapper, a compelling performer, and a fantastic Drake — it’s hard to compare him to other artists, both because he doesn’t fit neatly into a genre and because his greatest talent is being Drake. (Drake the artist seems to be an exaggerated version of Drake the person, with the soap operatic conflict amped up and the more mundane parts edited out.) Both Drake and Trump thrive on success and fandom — their fans root for them because they win and they win because their fans root for them. (Trump the politician seems to be an exaggerated version of Trump the person, with the cultural conflict amped up and the boring parts edited out.) Neither gets a ton of respect from critics, but they are both popular beyond belief, and they love to win and then show off that they did. Drake’s feud with Lamar became so compelling because each was a champion in his own way — Drake the unmatched entertainer, Lamar the iconic old-school lyricist. By scoring a No. 1 single with a diss track, an unusual achievement, Lamar essentially beat Drake at his own game. Is this why Drake is filing legal actions? Most people file litigation for financial restitution, to get an injunction to stop something, or to win negotiating leverage. In this case, the first would be hard to calculate, the second involves practices that would be hard to prove and the third seems unlikely — why would Drake want out of the UMG deal he signed in 2021 , which includes publishing and merchandise rights and was described as “Lebron sized.” The only thing we know about Drake’s motive is that his second filing says he “brings this action for a discrete and specific purpose: to understand whether, and how, UMG funneled payments to iHeartRadio and its radio stations as part of a pay-to-play scheme.” Perhaps, like Trump, he simply can’t imagine the possibility that he would lose a fair fight. Does Drake have a case? If UMG really had the power to make any song a hit, wouldn’t it do so more frequently? If anyone thinks Drake hasn’t received enough marketing or promotion — and I have yet to meet such a person — it’s worth considering that some Spotify subscribers found the service’s promotion of Scorpion so extensive that they asked for a refund . This, too, has political echoes: If U.S. elections are as unfair as Trump claims, how can he trust the one in November? Like Trump, Drake loves the one-upmanship drama of competition — but only, apparently, when he wins. Trump ran several campaigns based partly on the politics of insult comedy — his dog-whistle racism was obviously far worse — but he doesn’t like to be on the receiving end of it. (The kind of thin skin that would be a personal fault in most is terrifying in the U.S. president.) If rappers could pursue defamation claims for diss tracks, much less against the labels that release them, hip-hop never would have made it out of the Bronx. Lamar called Drake a certified pedophile, which is an ugly accusation, and a pun on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy , but not an actual thing; the reason Drake looks bad isn’t because people believe it but because “Not Like Us” is catchier and wittier than his own diss tracks. Drake certainly has the right to ask about music promotion practices — even in a legal filing. If no evidence of this emerges, though, he will need to seek satisfaction the old-fashioned way — by releasing a more compelling single.

TD Jakes Family: All About Dallas Bishop's Wife Serita And Their ChildrenPicture headphones that do more than just play music—imagine a device that combines audio quality with the novelty of a built-in, wearable touchscreen. That’s the kind of fever dream Miniso seems to have embraced with the G90 headphones. Let’s not mince words—this is the sort of concept that Apple fanboys have been daydreaming about for years. A mini iPod embedded right onto your ears? It’s like someone raided a tech nerd’s wishlist and decided to manufacture it. So, what exactly makes these headphones a headline grabber? First off, yes, there’s a touchscreen on the headphones. No charging case sleight of hand here—the control panel is boldly slapped onto the earcups, where you can swipe and tap your way through playlists, calls, and noise-canceling modes. And get this—it’s removable. Why? Probably to flex on the concept of versatility, or maybe just to mess with you when you inevitably misplace it. Practicality might take a backseat, but the sheer audacity is worth a nod. Designer: The G90’s design offers a mix of practicality and flair for a Miniso-worthy price tag of under $70. Its foldable construction ensures easy portability, while plush memory foam ear pads promise long-lasting comfort, whether you’re binge-watching your favorite series or enduring a red-eye flight. With a solid 10-hour battery life, these headphones can keep up with most daily routines. The built-in mic provides reliable call quality, but the star of the show is that screen – which somehow simultaneously excites and baffles the mind. The detachable touchscreen is equal parts audacious and perplexing. We’ve seen multiple companies add displays to the charging cases of TWS earbuds, but this particular one feels like one of those wild Behance design concepts come to life. The touchscreen displays presumably album art, along with meaningful information like a clock as well as song/artist/album details – probably for someone on the subway to peer at because the screen isn’t really visible to you while docked. You can, however, un-dock it but then again you could also just use your phone. Plus, the screen is also accompanied by buttons that perform more core activities like playing/pausing, volume control, and ANC activation. Don’t expect cutting-edge consumer-driven innovation from Miniso, but if you’re craving a bit of novelty, then sure, the G90 is a fun buy. As far as the headphone’s actual function goes, the G90’s hybrid active noise-canceling holds its own, capable of muting background chaos from roaring engines to bustling cafés. Paired with aptX Adaptive Sound, it adjusts audio delivery to suit various tracks, while multiple EQ presets let you adjust output based on what kind of audio you’re listening to. Meanwhile, the G90 also surprisingly packs Bluetooth 5.4, staying well ahead of the Bluetooth headset curve. Here’s the kicker: the price. At $66.78 on Aliexpress, the G90 is punching way above its weight. It doesn’t pretend to be a luxury statement but positions itself as an affordable, feature-packed alternative that makes you wonder why you’d spend more. It’s not so much a “do I need this?” purchase as a “why not?” decision—a sentiment Miniso clearly thrives on. And yes, I’ll be waiting to see someone hack the G90 and play Doom on it. Still, let’s address the elephant in the room: is the touchscreen actually useful? If swiping on your headphones sounds like the pinnacle of convenience, then sure, it’s revolutionary. For everyone else, it’s a quirky addition that’ll likely lose its charm after a few weeks. However, it does make for a pretty good stocking stuffer for that price tag!

Swinney: I'd consider Australia-style ban on social media use for teenagers under the age of 16

In a letter to the Prime Minister, shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel and shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick claimed the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had “no proper basis in international law”. They said the UK’s refusal to explicitly say whether or not the Israeli premier would be detained if he arrived in the country “opens the farcical spectre of your Government trying to sanction the arrest” of an ally to Britain. Criticising the ICC warrant, the shadow ministers said: “It is hard to escape the conclusion this is an activist decision, motivated by politics and not the law.” They argued the court was established to pursue cases in instances where countries do not have robust and independent judiciaries, which could not be said of Israel. “The UK Government’s response to the decision has been nonsensical,” they said. “On Friday, the Home Secretary refused to say whether Mr Netanyahu would be detained if he travelled to the UK. “This opens the farcical spectre of your Government trying to sanction the arrest on UK soil of the leader of an ally of the UK, while you continue a diplomatic charm offensive with the Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. “It falls to you to clarify the Government’s position – now. The Government must make clear that it does not support an arrest warrant being issued which has no proper basis in international law.” Downing Street on Friday indicated that Mr Netanyahu could face arrest if he entered the UK, refusing to comment on “hypotheticals” but saying Britain would always follow its “legal obligations”. The International Criminal Court Act 2001 states that a Secretary of State must, on receipt of a request for arrest from the ICC, “transmit the request and the documents accompanying it to an appropriate judicial officer”. Asked whether the UK would comply with requirements under the Act, Sir Keir’s spokesman said: “Yes, the Government would fulfil its obligations under the Act and indeed its legal obligations.” The ICC has issued a warrant for Mr Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Number 10 previously said the domestic process linked to ICC arrest warrants has never been used to date by the UK because no-one wanted by the international court had visited the country. It added that Israel remained a “key partner across a range of areas”. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It is important that we have a dialogue with Israel at all levels to reach the ceasefire that we all want to see, to bring an end to the violence, to protect civilians and ensure the release of hostages.” The ICC also issued a warrant for Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s armed wing, over the October 7 2023 attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza. A domestic court process would be required before Mr Netanyahu faced arrest if he set foot in the UK. The ICC said there are “reasonable grounds to believe” Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant were responsible for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts”. The court’s pre-trial chamber also found “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”. The impact of the warrants is likely to be limited since Israel and its major ally, the US, are not members of the ICC.WASHINGTON — Yu Miao smiles as he stands among the 10,000 books crowded on rows of bamboo shelves in his newly reopened bookstore. It’s in Washington’s vibrant Dupont Circle neighborhood, far from its last location in Shanghai, where the Chinese government forced him out of business six years ago. “There is no pressure from the authorities here,” said Yu, the owner of JF Books, Washington’s only Chinese bookseller. “I want to live without fear.” Independent bookstores have become a new battleground in China, swept up in the ruling Communist Party’s crackdown on dissent and free expression. The Associated Press found that at least a dozen bookstores in the world’s second-largest economy have been shuttered or targeted for closure in the last few months alone, squeezing the already tight space for press freedom. One bookstore owner was arrested over four months ago. The crackdown has had a chilling effect on China’s publishing industry. Bookstores are common in China, but many are state-owned. Independent bookstores are governed by an intricate set of rules with strict controls now being more aggressively policed, according to bookstore owners. Printing shops and street vendors are also facing more rigorous government inspections by the National Office Against Pornography and Illegal Publication. The office did not respond to interview requests from The Associated Press. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement to AP, said it was not aware of a crackdown on bookstores. Yu isn’t alone in taking his business out of the country. Chinese bookstores have popped up in Japan, France, Netherlands and elsewhere in the U.S. in recent years, as a result of both stricter controls in China and growing Chinese communities abroad. It’s not just the books’ contents that are making Chinese authorities wary. In many communities, bookstores are cultural centers where critical thinking is encouraged, and conversations can veer into politics and other topics not welcomed by the authorities. The bookstore owner who was arrested was Yuan Di, also called Yanyou, the founder of Jiazazhi, an artistic bookstore in Shanghai and Ningbo on China’s eastern coast. He was taken away by police in June, according to Zhou Youlieguo, who closed his own bookstore in Shanghai in September. Yuan’s arrest was also confirmed by two other people who declined to be named for fear of retribution. The charge against Yuan is unclear. An official in Ningbo’s Bureau of Culture, Radio Television and Tourism, which oversees bookstores, declined comment, noting the case is under investigation. The Ningbo police didn’t respond to an interview request. Michael Berry, director of UCLA’s Center for Chinese Studies, said a sluggish Chinese economy may be driving the government to exert greater control. “The government might be feeling that this is a time to be more cautious and control this kind of discourse in terms of what people are consuming and reading to try to put a damper on any potential unrest and kind of nip it in the bud,” Berry said. These bookstore owners face dual pressures, Berry added. One is the political clampdown; the other is the global movement, especially among young people, toward digital media and away from print publications. Wang Yingxing sold secondhand books in Ningbo for almost two decades before being ordered to close in August. Local officials informed Wang he lacked a publication business license even though he wasn’t eligible to obtain one as a second-hand seller. Faded outlines marked the spot where a sign for Fatty Wang’s Bookstore once hung. Spray-painted black letters on the bookstore’s window read: “Temporarily closed”. “We’re promoting culture, I’m not doing anything wrong, right? I’m just selling some books and promoting culture,” Wang said, tying a bundle of books together with brown wrapper and white nylon string. “Then why won’t you leave me alone?” Wang added. Half a dozen other people heaved boxes of books into the back of a van. The books, Wang said, were being sold to cafe and bar owners who wanted to burnish little libraries for their patrons. Some would be sent to a warehouse in Anhui. The rest, he said, were to be sent to a recycling station to be pulped and destroyed. Bookstores are not the only target. Central authorities have also cracked down on other places such as printing shops, internet bars, gaming rooms and street vendors. Strict inspections have taken place all over the country, according to Chinese authorities. Authorities in Shanghai inspected printing places and bookstores, looking for “printing, copying or selling illegal publications,” according to a government document. This shows the authorities are not just barring the sale of some publications, but tracing them back to the printing process. They found some printing stores did not “register the copy content as required” and demanded they fix the problem quickly. In Shaoyang, a city in China’s south, authorities said they will be “cracking down on harmful publications in accordance with the law.” The Communist Party has various powers to control which books are available. Any publication without a China Standard Book Number is considered illegal, including self-published books and those imported without special licenses. Books can be banned even after they are published if restrictions are later tightened — often for unclear reasons — or if the writers say something upsetting to the Chinese authorities. Yet despite these restrictions and the crackdown on existing booksellers, more bookstores are opening. Recent figures are unavailable, but a survey by Bookdao, a media company that focuses on the book industry, shows more than twice as many bookstores opened than closed in China in 2020. Liu Suli, who has been running All Sages Books in Beijing for over three decades, said there are many idealists in the industry. “Everyone who reads has a dream of having a bookstore,” Liu said, despite the challenges. In many cases, those dreams are being fulfilled outside China. Yu and other Chinese booksellers around the world stock their shelves with books from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China, as well as books published locally. Zhang Jieping, founder of Nowhere, a bookstore in Taiwan and Thailand, said there’s a growing demand for books from migrants who left China after the COVID-19 pandemic. “They don’t just want to speak fluent English or Japanese to fit in, they want cultural autonomy,” Zhang said. “They want more community spaces. Not necessarily a bookstore, but in any format — a gallery, or a restaurant.” Li Yijia is a 22-year-old student who arrived in Washington from Beijing in August. One Sunday morning, she wandered through JF Books where she found titles in Chinese and English. She said a Chinese bookstore feels like “another world in a bubble” which helps her critical thinking by allowing her to read books in both languages. “It also relieves homesickness, like a Chinese restaurant,” Li added. The closure of the bookstores leads the owners to different paths. Some ended up in jail, some went looking for jobs to feed their families. Some started a journey to leave censorship behind. Since he closed his Shanghai bookstore, Zhou, 39, has moved to Los Angeles, but hasn’t decided what his next step will be. He said his fully licensed independent bookstore, which sold art books and self-published works by artists and translators, was fined thousands of dollars and he was interrogated over a dozen times during the past four years. He’s seen colleagues jailed for selling “illegal publications.” All the self-published book artists and editors he worked with asked him to take down their work after warnings by local authorities. Zhou said he could not handle further harassment. He said it was as if he were “smuggling drugs instead of selling books.” The existence of his bookstore, Zhou said, was “a rebellion and a resistance,” which is not there anymore.

Emily M., a 26-year-old Taylor Swift fan in Washington State, woke up early on Saturday morning to join the line at her local Target with one goal: secure a copy of The Official Taylor Swift – The Eras Tour Book , released exclusively by the Tortured Poets Department pop star in a direct deal with the big-box wholesaler. With her $40 purchase, Emily expected a glossy coffee table keepsake chock full of the biggest moments on tour. What she got were pages full of mistakes. I know I’m not the only one disappointed with the Eras Tour book, but I haven’t seen anyone else talk about the glaringly obvious grammatical errors and clunky sentences within the pages. I make this video with peace, love, and a general frustration about how easy many of these problems could have been fixed with one more set of editing eyes. This book just had so much potential, and with a little tweaking it could have been absolutely spectacular. #erastourbook #errorstour #booktok “People are lovingly dubbing this the errors tour book right now,” Emily noted in a TikTok that now has over 1 million views and hundreds of thousands of comments. “When I got home, I was actually blown away by the amount of grammatical mistakes I saw. I saw so many, in fact, that I am seriously questioning if this book was even edited.” Emily isn’t the only one. Thousands of Swift fans have taken to social media with their discontent over the highly anticipated photo book. The complaints are varied. Some have posted photos of clunky grammar, factual mistakes on dates, and spelling errors in the lyrics of famous Swift songs. Instead of “This is my trying,” Swift’s Folklore song is written, “this is me rying.” The full list of concerts is missing a Toronto date. A major complaint is also the photos, which fans have noted are pixelated, grainy, and low quality. A sparse few even received books with missing sections or inside pages flipped upside down. And photos that feature Swift and her line of dancers are cut so that Swift is almost hidden in the crease of the book’s pages. (Representatives for Swift did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone ’s request for comment.) Mistakes in publishing happen. But as the book that was heralded as Swift’s rejection of traditional publishing houses by selling directly through Target, fans say the errors raise major concerns over whether the book really was a burden of love or a cash grab. Editor’s picks The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time The Eras Tour photo book was marketed by Swift as way for fans to commemorate her record-breaking and world-capturing two-year tour — which became the highest-grossing concert tour ever in 2023. When Swift announced the book, she said its 256 pages would include commentary and over 500 photographs from the live show. “Here is the official retrospective of the most wondrous tour of my life, my beloved Eras Tour,” Swift shared in a statement. “Thank you to the fans who came to this show. You were what made The Eras Tour what it became.” Each era, she said, would receive its own spotlight in the book, accompanied by commentary written by Swift herself about the performance photos and behind-the-scenes images. But in typical Swift fashion, the pop superstar and music magnate didn’t release the book through any of the biggest publishing houses. Instead, she cut out the middleman entirely and released the book exclusively through Target. Sophie Vershbow, a former publishing marketer and now journalist, tells Rolling Stone that Swift’s decision to release her book on her own sparked speculation among experts about whether it could lead to a change in celebrities’ relationships with publishing. She notes that in a similar fashion, Swift bypassed film studios and released her Eras Tour Concert Film directly with AMC Theatres. “Book publishers rely on these very large celebrity deals to carry their balance sheet throughout the year. Most books do not turn a profit for a publisher, so they’re really taking a couple of big bets a year and hoping that those pay off,” she tells Rolling Stone . “Anytime someone does a thing like this, you have to think about how it might impact people down the line. When you’re talking about massive celebrities, logically, you could see someone with a massive team learning from how Taylor Swift did it.” Related Content Amy Adams Is Down to Play Taylor Swift's Publicist in a Movie 'If It Got Me Closer to Taylor' Taylor! Billie! Sabrina! Women Made the 8 Most-Streamed Albums on Spotify This Year Taylor Swift Thanks Fans for Making 'Tortured Poets Department' Apple Music's Top Streamed Album Sky Ferreira Trying to Recover Songs After ‘Fraught’ Label Split While Vershbow wrote in Esquire in November that a successful Eras Tour book launch could see celebrities attempting to follow in Swift’s footsteps, she also notes that many people underestimate the sheer work, time, and manpower it takes to get a book ready for release — something she speculates might have something to do with the glaring errors in Swift’s book. “A lot goes into making a book. Printing, editing, there are so many parts of publishing that people don’t even think about. And now we’re seeing online that there are quality issues with the book,” Vershbow adds. “I went to the Eras Tour. Taylor Swift is not a sloppy person. And I have to imagine that there were good intentions to keep quality high on this, but that there’s a lot of things that her team didn’t consider, simply because they are not publishing experts.” While fans debate whether to return the books or keep them as is, the mistakes haven’t affected sales. According to Business Insider, Target has named The Eras Tour Book as their highest selling work of the year, meaning even when disappointed, Swifties are still a force to be reckoned with.Man City crisis deepens with loss to Juventus in Champions League as Barcelona and Arsenal win

Stock market today: Wall Street gets back to climbing, and the Nasdaq tops 20,000

Revlon Signs Lease to Relocate its New Jersey-based Science and Innovation Lab to The Northeast Science & Technology (NEST) Center

Romania PM fends off far-right challenge in presidential first round